I have a friend who likes to have a noise machine playing while he's sleeping. I think, lately, he's been using his iPhone for this.I've known people in the past who had to have a fan running in the room for them to fall asleep. (and they were not Korean) So, I think I'd give it a shot.

I looked on the Android Market for noise making apps and found one called "White Noise". It got the free version, of course. This one lets you use a variety of noises. Personally, I like the sound of rain, so I use that one. It's not as good as an actual rainstorm outside your window, but it seems to be ok.

Have you tried anything like this? Do you have an actual noise machine or do you use your smartphone? Give me suggestions.

(Koreans have a belief that if you leave a fan on at night, it'll kill you)

(Koreans are very silly.)

Koreans lived with different kind of heating systems, such that carbon monoxide poisoning was not unknown. That's probably where the source of that is. It does make for a nice internet meme with racist undertones once the context is stripped away, but that's the internet for ya.

Modern Korean heating systems (for the last 30+ years) are usually of the radiant floorboard variety, which nicely mimics the traditional in floor heating system (aka fire in the floor! not really) in heat production, but without ye olde carbon monoxide poisoning. You do still get the odd gas explosion or oil furnace/burner issue, but that's also familiar to most Americans as a risk.

While fans have nothing to do with it, in room/wall natural gas fired heaters with poor maintenance have caused asphyxiation deaths due to carbon monoxide poisoning in SoCal. More sad are the poor folks who used charcoal briquettes/etc for heaters and died that way.

I'm Korean and I've often slept with fans on AND POINTED AT ME. During hot summers without a working A/C, sometimes it was the only way to get a bit of rest. I've also found it a nice way of getting rid of food related nausea (too much artificial butter on the popcorn!), by cooling down my belly.

GwT once talked about some people's need/preference for hearing background noise - it has something to do with the way our brains work. IIRC, for some people, they rely on auditory stimulation to relax, concentrate or whatever it is they want to do. Others might need or prefer visual or kinesthetic stimulation. In GwT's classroom, he would (when allowed by his school) allow kids who wanted to to listen to their iPods whilst working, observing that when allowed to do so they worked a lot better.

Koreans lived with different kind of heating systems, such that carbon monoxide poisoning was not unknown.

So did the rest of the world, though. Where the 'fan death' idea came from is unknown (see the Snopes link above); what's more interesting is why it persists. To my understanding, that's a facet or result of a culture that is probably uniquely superstitious amongst first world countries. Why that is, is a question for ethnologists I guess. And internet racists too, of course.

Koreans lived with different kind of heating systems, such that carbon monoxide poisoning was not unknown.

So did the rest of the world, though. Where the 'fan death' idea came from is unknown (see the Snopes link above); what's more interesting is why it persists. To my understanding, that's a facet or result of a culture that is probably uniquely superstitious amongst first world countries. Why that is, is a question for ethnologists I guess. And internet racists too, of course.

And in America, the number 13 is believed by some to be unlucky or black cats or, etc etc etc.

So?

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Pick a country and then pick a superstition and then simplify for consumption as a meme.

And?

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I'm surprised you didn't whip out "groupthink" as your rationale.

Rationale for what? why fan death remains a popular belief in S. Korea? I guess you could say it is, actually

Let's backtrack. The question was: "what does being Korean have to do with fans?". The answer is: "fan death is a popular belief (only) in S. Korea". The obvious question then is 'why?' Who can say but from what I've read, including here, S. Koreans are a particularly superstitious people. That extends to feng shui, etc etc.

Nowhere is it even implicit that superstitions can't be found in cultures everywhere, but I believe there is a far greater proportion of the population in S. Korea that believes in fan death than believes 13 is unlucky in the US or Europe. And whereas many superstitions hark back to ancient times and cultures, fan death is perhaps uniquely a modern superstition having emerged at a time when the general populace was generally well educated and increasingly technologically literate. Honestly I consider it a fairly unique phenomenon, and for that it's always going to arouse surprise and critical comment on the internet, and recur, as in this thread, whenever anyone mentions using a fan at night.

Leaving aside the Korean fan death thing, to answer the OP I have a white noise machine I bought from Brookstone probably 7 or 8 years ago. It has everything from birds chirping, to various water and ocean sounds, to a plain "white noise" which is the setting I leave it on. You can also set the machine to turn off after a period of time, and it will spend the last half hour of time slowing ramping down in volume. It's the only thing that has saved my sanity while being married to a man who likes to stay up and play videogames or watch TV for several hours after I go to bed.

You can also get mp3's of rain showers, thunderstorms, waterfalls, brooks, ocean waves, etc. I've found these handy sometimes; just pick one, set the iPod to repeat, and there ya go. For those with mp3 players already, trying a 99¢ mp3 first before buying a noise machine might be worthwhile.

It's not a race issue, it's a cultural issue, and I thinks it's fascinating what otherwise intelligent people will believe. That goes for many superstitions in many countries; but ones completely foreign to the culture are always fascinating. I'm sure some people think werewolves, as a superstition and belief are fascinating too.

It's not a race issue, it's a cultural issue, and I thinks it's fascinating what otherwise intelligent people will believe. That goes for many superstitions in many countries; but ones completely foreign to the culture are always fascinating. I'm sure some people think werewolves, as a superstition and belief are fascinating too.

A few years ago I did a poll on how many people on Ars thought demons were real. It's a much larger number than you might expect.

It's not a race issue, it's a cultural issue, and I thinks it's fascinating what otherwise intelligent people will believe. That goes for many superstitions in many countries; but ones completely foreign to the culture are always fascinating. I'm sure some people think werewolves, as a superstition and belief are fascinating too.

A few years ago I did a poll on how many people on Ars thought demons were real. It's a much larger number than you might expect.

Reminds me of the George Carlin skit on how many Americans believe in angels. There's also a David Cross skit where he reads a newspaper article from Atlanta or somewhere down south talking about what Heaven is like (including angels that drive you around like chauffeurs).

And what's with the accusations of racism? Koreans believe in fan death... It's not racist...

Nowhere is it even implicit that superstitions can't be found in cultures everywhere, but I believe there is a far greater proportion of the population in S. Korea that believes in fan death than believes 13 is unlucky in the US or Europe.

I can't speak for the US, but in Canada most tall buildings do not even have a thirteenth floor. This could be taken as evidence that the unlucky 13 superstition is widely believed.

To my understanding, that's a facet or result of a culture that is probably uniquely superstitious amongst first world countries.

You're kidding me, right?

His wife is Japanese. AFAICT, he's a Japanese culture otaku and appears to have adopted ye olde superiority complex in the ages old relationship between Japan and Korea.

It's another facet of hist posting history, which includes anti-islamic and anti-middle east sentiments from his posting history.

MyCat wrote:

Doomlord_uk wrote:

Nowhere is it even implicit that superstitions can't be found in cultures everywhere, but I believe there is a far greater proportion of the population in S. Korea that believes in fan death than believes 13 is unlucky in the US or Europe.

I can't speak for the US, but in Canada most tall buildings do not even have a thirteenth floor. This could be taken as evidence that the unlucky 13 superstition is widely believed.

Don't deter him. He's on a mission to prove "groupthink" is everywhere. It's like the Matrix or something.